Thunder At Blood Gulch
by SwirlySlidez
Summary: Red vs Blue. Rated M, as all my fics are. A short story I did about the Blues and thunder. That is all. Chapter Two coming, will be the Reds. Set not long after Caboose and Donut got to Blood Gulch and ignoring Dead-Church. Church is still in his body.
1. Chapter 1 The Blues

**A side-note to my Psych fans. I recently lost most of my shit on my computer. I had to recover the contraption to out-of-box state, so I'm working, furiously, at re-writing Gus's story. What I have here is easy, of course, because I can just copy and paste. But I'd nearly finished the story itself in my documents on this computer... Which I lost. So, please forgive me for how much that sucks, but until the thing is up and running the way I want it to again... I have Red vs Blue.**

**Disclaimer - I don't own Blood Gulch, Halo, Red vs Blue, or Church, Caboose or Tucker. Wish I did. Really... REALLY wish I did. That said, on with the story.**

**Thunder at Blood Gulch - Chapter One - The Blues**

"Church?"

A small, soft voice called him slowly back from the land of the dreams.

"Church, are you awake?"

Leonard Church stretched his arms up, over his head, and dropped them quickly to his chest, cracking his eyes open to slits to get a look around the room and at the Rookie just at the foot of his bed.

"What is it, Caboose?"

The other soldier wrung his hands together, blue eyes darting left and right and chest heaving slightly with each breath. He said nothing until a crash of thunder shook the base. Then, as if some switch had been flipped, Caboose leaped onto the bed and curled his face into Church's side, whimpering and shivering.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me," Church said with a groan, turning his head just enough to view the top of the blonde's head. "Caboose… Get up."

Caboose shook like a leaf, but did as he was told, sitting up and scooting away from his C.O. He pulled his knees up to his chest (thank God the whole "nap-time comes before pants-time" thing did not rule out underwear) and wrapped his arms about his legs, resting his cheek against the tops of his knees. Another crash of thunder rang through the base. Caboose cringed.

"Can I… sleep with you tonight, Church?" his voice was small and frightened, nothing like a Spartan should sound at all.

Church heaved a sigh and scrubbed his hands over his face. "Yeah, sure, Rookie. Just don't cuddle me. I don't do that."

Caboose beamed and dropped his head onto the bed next to Church's. Church scooted over so the other man could have room without risking things getting too close.

"Thanks Church," Caboose sighed, nestling down beneath the thin sheets.

Church shrugged and closed his eyes again, attempting to recover what little sleep he was able to get these days. He listened to the thunder and the sound of Caboose's breathing finally slowing down and settling into a sleep lull before finally being able to pass out himself.

It felt like barely two seconds had passed before a weight pressed him down into the mattress, specifically in the region of his hips. Church groaned and opened his eyes, ready to tell Caboose to stop whatever the fuck he was doing and get off of him, and saw a flash of short black hair and a brown face before he felt another weight against his chest. Tucker buried his face against Church's shoulder and let out a whimper.

"What the fuck, Tucker?"

Tucker looked up at Church a moment and let out another whimper when a crash of thunder shook the base hard enough to knock pictures off the walls (if there were pictures on the walls, but there weren't).

"What the fuck is that?" Tucker yelped, shoving his face against Church's shoulder hard enough to hurt.

"It's called thunder, Tucker," Church growled, rolling to his side and shoving the other man off him, into the space between himself and Caboose. He briefly thanked God or whoever was listening to him now for having given him the insight to sew together those spare cot mattresses to make himself a larger bed. It was a crude set-up, but it fit the three of them somewhat comfortably, so it worked.

"Thunder?" Tucker laughed. "Oh… that… Yeah."

"You forgot what thunder sounded like, didn't you?"

Tucker nodded and pressed his face against Church's arm.

"My God," Church laughed. "You guys are in the military. You're grown men, and you're shaking because of thunder! That's fuckin' hilarious."

"No it's not," Caboose said, his voice still tiny.

Church snorted his disagreement, but said nothing more. Another crash of thunder rang through the sky and Tucker and Caboose both flinched and curled toward Church, nearly shoving him off the bed in the process.

"Alright, this is stupid," Church said, raising himself up on one elbow so he could look down at the other two men. "It's thunder. It's not gonna hurt you. Hell, thunder is just a noise. It happens after the act that causes it. Lightning hits the earth and seconds later, you hear it. The dangerous part is the lightning, and we're safe inside the base, so you guys don't have to worry. Thunder is nothing more than a loud noise. High pressure and low pressure hitting just like a drumstick hitting a drum. So chill out, okay?"

Tucker let out another whimper, then sniffed and nodded. "Yeah, just a noise…" He was still shaking. And Caboose didn't even bother to acknowledge his C.O.'s comments.

"You guys are gonna insist, aren't you?"

"Please, Church? I don't like to be alone in thunderstorms… It's just… I never liked them." Caboose looked up at Church with pleading eyes, his hands clenching and un-clenching around Tucker's bicep.

Tucker remained with his face pressed to Church's arm as best he could. He mumbled something, but Church couldn't hear it.

"What was that?"

The teal Spartan leaned back and looked up at Church with a sigh. "Can you sleep in the middle so we can both like… know you're there?"

Church rolled his eyes and nodded. "Sure, fine. If it means I can sleep tonight, sure." He sat up enough that Tucker could slide over to where he'd been lying before he dropped down into the middle of the bed, sprawled on his back. "You guys are pussies."

The room fell silent after that, aside from the rolling thunder outside. It was quieting down a bit and Church was finally feeling the pull of sleep again when he felt two quick weights against his chest. He cracked his eyes open to see both Tucker and Caboose had laid their heads against him. Sighing, he rolled his eyes and looked to the ceiling. A particularly loud crash of thunder, bigger than all the ones he'd heard so far, rang through the base, causing him to jump slightly along with the two at his sides. Instinctively, he brought his arms around the other two men, hunkering down and cuddling to them.

"I guess we're all pussies, to an extent," he muttered, closing his eyes and dozing off again.

**End, of the Blue version. There is a Red Base reaction to the same storm coming soon. Reviews please. I like them.**


	2. Chapter 2 The Reds

**Thunder at Blood Gulch, part two. This is the Red Base reaction to the same storm. Note the slashy undertones. They're not really there because I intend to make those pairings in the future. They're just there because those are the funniest combinations these boys can make. Besides, Simmons and Grif are really in love. You see it. I see it. Tucker sees it. Ahhhh, yeah… I'm gonna go watch some more RvB.**

**Anyway, I don't own this side of the canyon either, so… Yeah. Enjoy.**

It was darker than usual outside and Donut wasn't entirely sure what that meant for himself and his teammates. He was spread out on his stomach in the Red Base rec-room, scribbling in a book of Sudoku puzzles. Grif sat behind him on the couch, staring at the ceiling and counting quietly. The petite soldier growled slightly as another flash lit the base and Grif started over at one again.

"1...2...3...4...5," Grif's count was cut off by a loud crash of thunder. "That one's not that close at all.

"What difference does it make on this planet? We don't know if it works the way you say it does?" Simmons said as he walked in, stretching his arms toward the ceiling.

Grif just growled at the maroon soldier and started counting as another flash lit the base.

"Make him stop!" Donut whined, rolling over to look up at Simmons with pleading, watery pale-blue eyes. Simmons ran a hand quickly through his short hair and stalked to Grif, smacking him as the other began counting yet again.

"What the fuck, man?" Grif yelped. "I just wanna count how far away it is!"

"You're freaking Donut out," Simmons griped, dropping onto the ratty couch they'd constructed out of chairs, extra mattresses, and spare sheets.

"Oh please, it's just thunder."

"And lightning!" Donut said, burying his face suddenly in his arms as another flash lit the room around them.

"What's he complainin' about now?" Sarge growled from his seat in the corner of the room, where he sat cleaning his shotgun.

Simmons sighed and laid down across the couch, propping his legs up on Grif's knees. Grif looked for a split second like he was going to hit the kiss-ass, but gave up at the glare he received from Sarge, almost as though the older man knew what he was thinking.

"Thunderstorm, Sarge," Simmons said, not aware of the glare contest going on between his C.O. and his least favorite teammate.

"Ah can't believe it. Are you serious, Simmons? It's just a damn thunderstorm."

"Yeah, so?" Donut sat up and pulled his knees to his chest, staring at Sarge over them.

"So, what're you complainin' for, Princess?"

"I don't like it. The end."

Sarge and Simmons laughed, shaking their heads almost identically. Grif's eyes widened at the eerie resemblance.

"I hate thunderstorms too," he said suddenly.

"Oh? Why?" Donut's attention was directed completely on the orange soldier now, those pale eyes wide and interested.

"Because when it's storming out there, I'm stuck in here, without the armor and shit… And I have to see how similar Sarge and Simmons have become. I swear to God, Simmons. It's like you two might as well be fucking, you're so alike."

Simmons leaped up from his spot and lunged at Grif, tackling him off the couch and onto the floor, just barely missing Donut as the Rookie jumped up and threw himself at Sarge with a girlish squeal. Simmons and Grif rolled around a while, throwing punches and cursing at each other while Donut buried his face against Sarge's chest. Sarge looked on with an indifferent stare.

"Y'all don't even know how ta' fight," the eldest Red said at great length.

Simmons and Grif ignored this comment and continued to beat at each other. Another flash of lightning came then, followed almost immediately by a crash of thunder that shook the entire base. Donut yelped and tightened his grip on Sarge, clinging to him, frightened. Simmons and Grif stopped mid-fight, legs tangled and hair tousled. They both squealed and wrapped their arms around each other, squeezing tight.

"It's an earthquake!" Grif screamed, his voice high and terrified.

"We're gonna die!" Simmons agreed quickly, his tone no better.

Sarge burst out laughing and struggled to a standing position, helping Donut to stand as well. "Ah've never seen a bigger buncha scaredy-cats than you sorry meat bags," he said with a snort.

Donut tightened his grip around Sarge, his arms dropping to drape around the older man's waist. "And?"

Sarge just shook his head and pushed Donut away a bit before putting an arm around the Rookie's shoulders.

"You oughta just get some sleep, boys. This storm's not blowin' over too soon." A sudden look of compassion passed briefly over his face as he looked at the Rookie beside him. "Donut. You can stay in mah room, if it'll make ya feel any better. Ah'm sure Grif an' Simmons'll spend their evening together."

Donut let out a small giggle and wrapped his arms around Sarge again, walking sideways along with the other man toward the C.O.'s room.

Grif and Simmons stared after the two with wide eyes.

"You think Sarge has something he needs to tell us?" Grif asked finally.

"I don't even wanna know," Simmons groaned as he moved to pull away from Grif. He stood and stretched again before grabbing up a spare blanket from the couch.

Another crash of thunder ripped through the Base and Simmons dropped right back down next to Grif, clinging to the other soldier. Grif yelped and nuzzled against Simmons, grasping at the blanket and pulling it up over the two of them.

"We never tell anyone?" Grif said quietly.

"I won't tell if you don't, dipshit," Simmons said.

**End. For now. Well… for the Thunder snippets at least. Other natural disasters they wouldn't usually see or encounter in Blood Gulch might be coming… I don't know. Anyway… Yeah.  
Note - Grif is counting between the lightning and the thunder to see how far away the lightning is supposed to be. Supposedly, whatever number you got to before you heard the thunder was how many miles away the lightning was when it struck the earth. Something my mom told me when I was a kid so I wouldn't freak out when she had to go out into the storm to go to work while I sat and waited and cried. xD**


End file.
